Nine Years Too Late: A Narnian Golden Age Tale
by Arya Reed
Summary: Peter is distressed that his siblings have not married, so he invites guests to spend some time at Cair Paravel, in the hopes that they will finally give in. Takes place during Rabadash's visit to Cair Paravel, mentioned in "The Horse and His Boy". Peter/OC, Edmund/OC, Lucy/OC, slight Susan/Rabadash.
1. Meeting the Duke

It was the thirteenth year of the Golden Age, and the Kings and Queens at Cair Paravel were at the peak of their power. They ruled benevolently, granting freedoms unimaginable during the years of Winter under the White Witch. All creatures spent their days frolicking about and when time came to honor their rulers, they did so graciously, attending balls and parties at Cair.

Almost instantly, the siblings began to attract foreign royalty who wanted to form marriage alliances. Mostly, young princes came for Susan, already a beauty, but Peter was the first to marry. At seventeen, he married a duchess from Archenland.

That had been nine years ago. Susan still had yet to pick a husband from her coterie of suitors, and neither Edmund nor Lucy showed any interest in marriage. This caused one of the many rows between Peter and Susan.

"I don't know why you've not married," Peter said. "And Ed and Lu are both absolutely against it. Whenever I mention some suitor or some eligible maiden is coming to visit, they find an excuse to escape the parties. At least you try to entertain your suitors."

"You should be patient with them," Susan said calmly. "And there is another suitor coming next week, the Tisroc's eldest son, with a large party. Perhaps a son of a Tarkaan for Lucy, and a young Tarkheena for Edmund?"

"We can only hope," Peter grumbled. "We are Duke of Olvin and his son. You remember Cat's father and brother. I will accept no excuses from either Edmund or Lucy."

When they heard that they would be obliged to entertain guests the following week, among them eligible partners for marriage, both Edmund and Lucy grew very angry. Edmund sulked. Lucy yelled at Peter, I HATE YOU!" But noting they said or did got them out of it. They still had to be fitted for new clothes and practice what they might say.

"I think I might step on the duke's toes if we're obliged to dance," she muttered to herself.

"Now, Your Majesty," reprimanded the Dryad who was doing her fitting. "That's no way to treat a guest."

Finally, after enduring pinching pulling, and poking, Lucy was finally ready. Her gown was pale blue, to match her eyes, with a silver cape emblazoned with Aslan's emblem on the back. To her mortification, she discovered that Susan's gown and cape were the exact same, but deeper blue with a gold cape.

She took her place uneasily on her throne. She glanced over at Edmund, noticing that he and Peter too wore similar ensembles. She chuckled a bit.

Peter's wife, Catriona, stood below the thrones. It suddenly dawned on Lucy that she was welcoming her family to Cair Paravel: her father, the Duke of Olvin, and her brother, the future duke.

Into the hall they came, the familiar, but slightly aged man Lucy had met briefly at Peter's wedding. Following him, was a young man about Edmund's age, who she reckoned was Olvin's son, Thomas, but he wasn't the same boy he had been then, who loved nothing more than pranks. He was taller, broader, and his features were intense. And not to mention, his sandy-blond hair was slightly shorter.

And his eyes...was he staring at her? It was as if he could see into her soul.

"Your Majesties," the Duke of Olvin said, kneeling. Thomas kneeled beside him, clutching his older sister's hand.

Peter stood. "Rise, my lords. You are our friends and our family." He came to his wife's side.

The duke and his son rose. "We are pleased to return to Narnia," Thomas said. Dear Aslan, his voice is deep, Lucy marveled. And it sounded even raspier than Edmund's.

"We hope you will enjoy your stay here," said Peter. "And that our friendship might become stronger still."

Though Lucy knew what Peter was inferring, she was now much more intrigued by these visitors. Especially Thomas. How had he changed in nine years?


	2. The Calormene Princess

**Cast (OCs):**

**Thomas Sangster as Thomas**

**Afshan Azad as Afshan (not original, I know)**

**Rose Leslie as Catriona**

Chapter 2

The Calormene Princess

Edmund scowled as he watched Lucy getting flushed over the The Royal Duke and Imperial Ass, Thomas. Didn't he used to sneak up behind her and pull her hair, and run away? And there was the time he had put the spider in her bed, and she had sought refuge in Edmund's bed instead. The fact that he had grown up and was now a stud did not change the fact that he had been a beast as a child. Thomas was nearly as bad as Edmund had been before coming to Narnia, and that was saying a lot.

But he tried to remember that these people were relatives of Archenland's King and important friends to Narnia. If the others could put the past behind them, he should be able to at least give the "new Thomas" a chance.

But he barely had time to exchange two words with him, when trumpets heralded the arrival of the Calormene party from Tashbaan.

"Way! Way!" shouted a man, cloaked and hooded in the Calormene style. "Make way for Prince Rabadash and Princess Afshan!"

In they came, in their litter, surrounded by servants of every kind, from dancers to maids and footmen, and most important, guards on horses. All wore hoods and long robes in pearly-white. The litter abruptly stopped a yard or two from the thrones, and Prince Rabadash alighted from it, with the help of an aide.

He was an average looking man: his white turban concealed a visibly prematurely balding head. To Edmund's dismay, he estimated the man to be about a head shorter than him. Like other Calormene men, he also had a long dark beard. And unlike the men of the court, his robes were of an opulent red silk, covering a peach-colored gown.

Next, an angel (or so Edmund thought) stepped down. She refused the help from the aides, preferring to step out herself. She was taller than her brother; she might even have been Edmund's height, though he couldn't be sure. And despite her forwardness with her servants, her every action was graceful. Before Rabadash could begin ambling toward the four Thrones, she had already begun flouncing her way there.

"Good day, Your Majesties," the prince said, bowing gallantly. "I am Prince Rabadash, and this is my sister, Princess Afshan. I am pleased to finally meet you and bask in your magnificence -" he nodded to Peter, "-gentility-", he nodded, in a more suggestive way to Susan, "justice and valiance." He didn't even meet Edmund's or Lucy's eyes. The idiot!

Then, the prig waddled up to Susan, lifting her hand to his lips and kissing it extravagantly. Edmund suddenly felt the need to hurl...and perhaps this prince was the ideal target.

Then, he glanced at Princess Afshan. Her face too was crinkled with disgust. Maybe she knew dark secrets about her brother that might come in handy? He needed to talk to her.

After the pomp of greeting their guests was over and done with, the Court broke up with plans to reconvene for supper that evening. And Edmund immediately caught the girl's attention, pulling her away from her guards and handmaids.

"King Edmund! I mean, Your Majesty!" She dipped into a curtsy. She sounded rather shocked to be spoken to. Were there strict rules regarding women in Calormen? He thought he remembered reading something of that sort...

Never mind. "Call me Edmund, Your Highness. Or Ed, if you like. My siblings call me Ed, except Lucy when she's upset with me, then she calls me the 'Dreaded Ed' for the whole day, and everyone else follows suit. There was this one time when...oh, of course you don't want to hear about that!"

He had to shut himself up. He didn't know why he was babbling. But she looked at him curiously, as if she was actually interested in what he had to say. And as he felt himself growing red in the cheeks, surprisingly, she laughed.

"It feels nice to not have to mind every little thing," she giggled. "I think I like you, Edmund. Much better than my brother. I'm Afshan."

And like a commoner, or someone from the land beyond the Lamp-post in the land of Ward Drobe in Spare Oom, she held out her hand to shake. He accepted it.


End file.
